RAF Gan FV-623 Stalwart

[PR19_Kit]

Before I even start reporting on this build I should perhaps mention that I've only ever built one 'armour' model in this scale in my whole life, and that was an Airfix LTV Buffalo which I made in the late 60s! Mind you, I did scratchbuild a gun turret on top of it from an Airfix magazine article. so it wasn't exactly OOB.

I reported on finding this Ace Design kit in the 2022 Stash thread, and here's the mandatory box lid pic.

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Nice artwork I think you'll agree.


There are numerous sprues as the kit has LOTS of little bits to it, as you can see.

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I started on building it this evening, just because I'd not come across a kit this small for some years, nay decades! It's gone together quite well, so far, but each part is attached to the sprue by a large number of gates, and it's important that every TRACE of the gates are removed from each part as they're invariably in the middle of a glue face. On a kit this small the merest trace of a gate take up a large amount of space and the parts end up not fitting properly.

[Don't ask me how I know this................]

So far I've got as far as assembling the main hull and cargo floor, and in the pic below there are no less than twelve parts. Quite why they didn't mould the cargo deck parts on top of the main floor I don't know, it would have saved them four parts, but perhaps they're still in the 'The More Parts It's Got, The Better the Kit' phase..

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The instructions are less than comprehensive, they show all (most....) of the parts, but not which order to assemble them. For instance the cab floor, part D33, really should be glued in place before the main cargo deck floor.

Don't ask me how I know THIS either!

And part D33, the cab rear bulkhead, just isn't mentioned anywhere, so you just have to figure out which bit it is and proceed accordingly. 

[Wardukw]

Kit this is a sweet build and not the norm with everything being tracked for the most part ...ill be keeping a weathered eye on this matey 

[Captain Canada]

Nice one ! I've been enamored by that thing since the first time I saw a matchbox toy.

[PR19_Kit]

I worked on a Stalwart in the late 60s, when Alvis wanted some strain gauge work done on the drive shafts to try and combat the dreaded 'wind-up' problem.  I spent 2-3 weeks underneath one of their development vehicles and it's VERY cramped down there! I won't be modelling any strain gauges in this build! 

The Army solved the 'wind-up' business themselves by driving them off high curbs fast enough so each wheel set came off the ground for a short while! It worked a treat. 

[PR19_Kit]

As you can tell from the box art this kit comes with a deck mounted ATLAS crane on the back. The carne is wonderfully moulded, in NINE parts!, and it's not very large either.....

It can be assembled with the crane extended or folded up, with dummy hydraulic jacks to suit either configuration, and I decided to have mine extended. To say it's fiddly to assemble would be a monumental understatement as the ends of the jacks are all too wide to fit in the recesses in the various arms and needed lots of filing down, but it's all together now.

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And no, I'm not going to add the pressure return and drain lines to the jacks either!


....because it's SO small, as you can see!

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[Steel Penguin]

geep thats a tiny thing of beauty, Kit.

looking forward to this progressing.

[PR19_Kit]

It is progressing apace, or it is when I can see well enough to find all the tiny little bits of it anyway!

The main body is all assembled now, but there's a lot of fiddly little bits got to fit in the bay where the carne goes, right at the front, and the instructions are less than informative what goes where. 

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[Wardukw]

Your doing great mate ..that thing is so small and I'm having enough trouble building this 48th Spad ..it's that small it's less than quarter the length of my F15 ..having fun thou   
And as for the crane...it's so cute 

[PR19_Kit]

And as for the crane...it's so cute 

I imagined you thinking like me, "Hmmm, I wonder if I can hose this up properly?"

And then the awful truth would dawn, the pressure and return lines would be a fraction of a millimetre in diameter, and the drains would be invisible! 

[Gondor]

I imagined you thinking like me, "Hmmm, I wonder if I can hose this up properly?"

And then the awful truth would dawn, the pressure and return lines would be a fraction of a millimetre in diameter, and the drains would be invisible! 

It's probably do-able with a thin enough and reasonably flexible item such as 5A fuse wire, paint black or the same as the body of the crane. If anyone would notice all the hard work that you put into it.....
As for the crane, I like the cut of it's jib. 

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

This is probably THE most difficult model I've built ever since I started plastic modelling in 1953! The parts are SO tiny I can't grab hold of them properly much of the time, and as many of them are round, gripping them with tweezers tends to result in them shooting off into orbit never to be seen again. So far I've lost 3 parts like this, and don't supply any spares at all.

I've spent all afternoon assembling the suspension of just one side of the Stolly. I know what the real thing looked like from very close range and I don't think they missed one bit of it! Here's the whole assembly so far, with my thumb included to show how small it all is, and the 2nd pic is the detail of just the front axle.

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There's NINTEEN parts, not counting the hull assembly, in that main pic!

[Later] Checking on the pic above shows ANOTHER bit that's gone walkabout, and there are no spares of course, grrrrrrr.

[Wardukw]

Once those wheels go on they should hide moat of that Kit and a nice layer of mud..all missing bits are forgotten 
I to have a kit ..had it for yrs...is it built.. nope..a Zvezda 72nd topol ss-25 sickle.  ..this thing is 310mm long and has 14 wheels and all suspension units are separate parts..lots and lots of parts.

[Mossie]

Looking good Kit, despite the difficulty.  I've got an old BW Models white metal kit somewhere, I actually had it built.  I didn't like the paint on it so I stripped it only for the stripper to attack the epoxy I'd use and it fell to bits! I do love the Stolly, I wish there was a simple kit.

Once those wheels go on they should hide moat of that Kit and a nice layer of mud..all missing bits are forgotten 
I to have a kit ..had it for yrs...is it built.. nope..a Zvezda 72nd topol ss-25 sickle.  ..this thing is 310mm long and has 14 wheels and all suspension units are separate parts..lots and lots of parts.

A friend has that kit, it's no titch even in 1/72.  The parts count is mind boggling.  We often have a discussion of the complexity of modern kits and that one comes out. I covet the Hasegawa Rosenbauer Panther but stay away from it for that reason.

[PR19_Kit]

I can see no reason for there being so many parts in the Stolly kit. many of them could have been moulded in one piece instead of 3-4 that need to be assembled. I know that might sound like a call for a 'click together' kit, but that's not what I meant. Just some of the very complex parts could have been moulded as one, and they might have made more sales as a result. I can see some modellers being put of buying this just because it's so complex.

[PR19_Kit]

Could some passing Mod please move this thread into the Logistics GB area please?